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Prisons Today
The United States now has the highest rate of incarceration in the world, by far, with 2.2 million citizens in prison or jail. This phenomenon has generally been driven by changes in laws, policing, and sentencing, not by changes in behavior. The results have disproportionately impacted poor and disenfranchised communities (mostly communities of color). In contrast, these historic changes remain nearly invisible to many Americans. Prisons Today: Questions in the Age of Mass Incarceration, a new exhibit at Eastern State Penitentiary, sheds light on these issues. It elicits personal connections to recent historic changes in the U.S. criminal justice system, encourages reflection, supports dialogue, and suggests steps that visitors can take to help shape the evolution of the American criminal justice system moving forward. Prisons Today is the next step in Eastern State’s continued focus on issues of contemporary corrections. It acts as a companion to The Big Graph, now on view, as well as The Searchlight Series, a monthly discussion series about crime, justice, and the American prison system. Explore Prisons Today with this 3D virtual tour, courtesy of the Associated Press. What are Prisons For? Take the quiz.
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Al Capone's Cell
Alphonse “Scarface” Capone got his first taste of prison life in Philadelphia. He stopped in Philadelphia while traveling from Atlantic City back to his home in Chicago in May, 1929. He was arrested outside a movie theater for carrying a concealed, unlicensed .38 caliber revolver. The Philadelphia courts were tough. They handed Capone the maximum sentence: one year in prison. Capone served eight months of that sentence in this cell. But while the Philadelphia courts tried to make an example of Chicago’s famous bootlegger, the officials at Eastern State Penitentiary were nothing if not generous. They allowed Capone comforts not typically granted to inmates, including fine furniture, oriental rugs, oil paintings and a fancy radio. He liked to listen to waltzes in his cell. Capone’s arrest came at a time of escalating mob violence in Chicago, and he was often accused of hiding in prison intentionally. He spent thousands of dollars trying to get himself released, and he denied all his life that he came to Philadelphia to hide. Al Capone's Cell is on view during all public hours. Included with admission to the historic site.
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The Big Graph
The United States imprisons 2.2 million citizens, the highest incarceration rate in the world, by far, and yet has no national prison museum. Now, Eastern State Penitentiary is introducing public dialogue around issues of crime, justice, and the changing face of our criminal justice system. The Big Graph This 16-foot tall, 3,500-pound plate steel sculpture illustrates three sets of statistics, depending on the viewer’s position. From the south, The Big Graph illustrates the unprecedented growth in U.S. incarceration rates since 1900. From the north it illustrates the racial breakdown of the American prison population in 1970 and today. From the east, The Big Graph charts every nation in the world, both by rate of incarceration and by policies around capital punishment. The Big Graph can be updated through the year 2020. From The Big Graph text: The expansion of the U.S. prison system in the past 40 years is truly historic in scale. For more than a century, the U.S. imprisoned between 100 and 200 people for every 100,000 citizens. That began to change around the time that Eastern State Penitentiary closed in 1970. New laws and longer prison sentences began to dramatically increase the prison population. Today the U.S. imprisons more than 700 people for every 100,000 citizens. This is the highest rate of incarceration in the world. Crime rates have gone up and down throughout these years. They are largely independent of the rate of incarceration. The Big Graph is on view during all public hours. Included with admission to the historic site. The Big Graph is supported in part by revenue from Eastern State Penitentiary's Halloween fundraiser, Terror Behind the Walls, and a grant from The George W. Rentschler Foundation.
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Jewish Life at Eastern State
Eastern State’s synagogue was almost certainly the first built in an American prison. Completed around 1924 and used continuously until the Penitentiary closed in 1971, the space had fallen into near total ruin after the penitentiary’s abandonment. The synagogue marks the first truly restored space in the penitentiary, faithfully returned to its appearance in 1959, with dark wooden benches surrounding the room, a beautiful ark, Reader’s Table, ornate plaster Star of David, and an eternal flame. A set of workshops next to the synagogue has been converted into The William Portner Memorial Exhibit on Jewish Life at Eastern State Penitentiary. The restored Alfred W. Fleisher Memorial Synagogue and the companion exhibit on Jewish life at Eastern State Penitentiary are open during all public hours. Included with admission to the historic site.
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Murals of the Catholic Chaplain's Office
Warden Michael Cassidy built these impressive spaces for his offices in the 1880s. Later wardens moved their offices back to the Administration Building, a safer location isolated from the inmates. This space became the offices of the prison’s religious staff: the Protestant, Jewish, and Catholic chaplains. Inmate Lester Smith painted 23 murals on these walls in 1955 and used the signature “Paul Martin” to honor his two favorite saints. Smith was a self-taught artist who had converted to Catholicism in prison. When Father Edwin Gallagher, the penitentiary’s Catholic Chaplain (1952-1958), witnessed Smith painting in his cell, he invited the inmate to decorate the offices where he met with and counseled inmates. These remarkable and extremely fragile paintings vividly set the Catholic chaplain’s rooms apart from the rooms used by the other chaplains. Most striking and personal is the mural of the kneeling prisoner seeking absolution through his confession. These murals remain a testament to the story of one inmate who underwent a powerful change while in prison. The murals suffered extensive damage during Eastern State’s period of abandonment. They were conserved in 2014 are now accessible to visitors every day. The murals of the Catholic Chaplain's Office can be viewed at select times throughout the day as part of our Hands-On History program. Included with admission to the historic site.
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